Alarm-clock.



W. J. SMITH.

ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION rum) MAY 11, 1914.

1,106,852. ted Aug. '11, 1914,

2 EHEETS-BHEET 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOrO-LITHQ, WASHINGTON. D. c.

W. J. SMITH.

ALARM CLOGK.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1914.

Patented Aug. 11, 19M

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Tr-u; NURRI FLILRS L0,, PHOT0-L|THO., WASHINGTDM D. c.

UNITED 811x 8 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. SMITH, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO WATERBUBY CLOCK CO., OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

ALARM- CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1914.

Application filed May 11, 1914. Serial No. 837,863.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. SMITH, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at lVaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in AlarnrClocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in

Figure 1 a view in front elevation of an alarm-clock constructed in accordance with my invention, portions of the dial and case being broken away and the pendant being shown in vertical section. Fig. 2 a detached view in front elevation of the clock-movement, showing the positions of the arts at the expiration of twelve hours a ter the sounding of an alarm on Saturday morning. Fig. 3 an edge view of the clockmovement looking from right to left. Fig. 4 a View of the movement in transverse sect-ion on the line ab of Fig. 2, looking upward and showing the parts in the positions of the preceding figures. Fig. 5 a similar view showing the parts in the positions assumed by them twenty-four hours after the last sounding of the alarm, these positions being positions in which an alarm would be sounded except for the interference of the special Sunday cut-out member. Fig. 6 a similar view showing the parts in the positions assumed by them on Monday morning after the alarm has been sounded and manually stopped. Fig. 7 a detached view in elevation of the alarm-setting dial. Fig. 8 a perspective view of the Sunday cut-out spring. Fig. 9 a perspective view of the alarm let-off spring. Fi 10 a perspective view of the sliding alarm-stop with its supporting brackets in transverse section. Flg. 11 a perspective view of the alarm-resetting-lever.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of alarm-clocks in which the sounding of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm-mechanism automatically reset, the objcct being to produce a simple and reliable alarm-clock of the character described, to provide a convenient guide for setting it, and to furnish means for automatically cutting out the alarm on Sunday.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in an alarm-clock having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a plunger 2 having a shoulder 3 to limit its outward movement and provided at its outer end with a reduced stem 4 by means of which it is mounted in a pendant 5 riveted into the annular band or ring 6 forming the case-body. The said stem 4 is reduced at its end to form a threaded stud 7 for the application of a push-but ton 8 entering the outer end of a chamber 9 formed in the pendant for the reception of the button and also for the reception of a spring 10 encircling the outer end of the stem 4 and exerting a constant effort to lift the said plunger and push-button into their normal positions. At its lower end, the said plunger 2 engages with an inwardly turned arm 11 upon the upper edge and about midway the length of, a horizontally arranged aalarnrresetting lever 12 hung upon a stud 13 upon the inner face of the front movement-plate 14 and formed at its opposite end 'with a downwardly turned arm 15 terminating in a bevel 16 which faces inward. The said lever is operated by the plunger 2 which forms a manually operable member for stopping the sounding of the alarm as will appear later on.

The said bevel 16 co-acts directly with the edge 17 of the outer or right hand end of a horizontally arranged alarm-stop slide 18 having reciprocating and lateral movement and mounted in brackets 19 and 20 extending inward from the inner face of the front movement-plate 14. A helical spring 21 attached to the said plate 14 and to the slide 18 which it crosses at an angle, exerts a constant effort to pull the slide from left to right into its alarm let-off position. On account of the angle at which the said spring 21 crosses the slide 14, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, it also exerts a constant effort to draw the slide laterally forward for the co-action of its positioning shoulders 22 and 23 with the inner end of the bracket 20 at the point 24 thereon. The slide 18 is also formed upon its outer edge with an abutment tooth 25 which co-acts with a finger 26 turned inward at a right angle from the upper edge of an alarm let-off spring 27 secured by a rivet 28 to the plate 14 and having its left hand end turned inward at a right angle to form a finger 29 beveled to coast with the inner end of a hammer-stop wire 30 mounted in a verge arbor 31 carrying a verge 32 co-acting with a crown wheel 33 and also carrying a hammer-arm 34c furnished with a hammer 35. The slide 18 is furnished upon its inner edge with a stop-shoulder 36 which limits the movement of the slide from left to right. The spring 27 is furnished with a hole 68 through which the alarm-set shaft 39 passes. The said alarm-let-off spring 27 which is of ordinary construction except for its provision with the finger 26, is operated by the engagement of its outer face with an annular shoulder 37 upon the inner face of an alarm-cam wheel 38 laterally movable upon an alarm-set staff 39 projecting at its forward end through the front movementplate 1 1 and at its rear end through the rear movement-plate 40 and provided with a button-41 for its manual operation. The said wheel 38 is furnished upon its forward face with a concentric alarm-cam 12 co-acting with an alarm let-off finger 1-3 fixed upon the projecting forward end of the stafi 39. The wheel 38 meshes into and is driven by the minute-pinion 1 t of the dial work, this pinion being carried by the minute-wheel 15 which meshes into and is driven by the cannon pinion 16 on the center arbor 47 which later carries the hour-wheel 48 upon which the hour-wheel t8 is rotated by the minutepinion 4 1 aforesaid.

To provide for automatically preventing the sounding of the alarm on Sunday, I employ a Sunday cut-out ratchetwheel 49 having fourteen teeth and operated step-by-step at the rate of one tooth for every twelve hours by means of a pin 50 in the alarmcaniwheel, the wheel being held in each of its fourteen positions by the entrance between its respective teeth of the V-shaped end 51 of a long retainingspring 52. The said wheel 4-9 is provided upon its rear face with a Sunday cut-out tooth 53 which co-acts over a period of twenty-four hours once in seven days, and hence over Sunday, with a Sunday cutout spring 3 1 (Fig. 8) secured by a rivet 55 to the movement-plate 14 and formed at its upper end with a beveled Sunday cut-out linger 56 which is arranged closely adjacent to the corresponding finger 29 of the alarm 1etoif spring 27. The said tooth 56 coacts with the hammer-stop wire 30 for the entire twentyfour hours during which the spring 5 1 is in play and takes the place of the beveled finger 29 of the alarm let-olf spring 27 which, during this period is twice released by the alarm-cam 12. As the Sunday cut-out tooth 53 does not let up on its inward pressure on the spring 54 during the entire 26% hours of Sunday, the tooth 56 is maintained in position to block the vibration of the hammer-stop arm 30 when the same is released by the finger 29 of the spring 27. The path of the tooth 53 over the spring is indicated by the broken lines 57 in Fig. 8, it being understood that the spring 5 1 is broad enough to provide a path 57 long enough to cover two step-by-step actuations of the Sunday cut-out wheel 49. To maintain the spring 54 in position, it is furnished at its upper end with a ring-bearing 58 encircling the inner end the hub 5 of the wheel e9 which turns upon a stud 60 in the front movement-plate.

In order to guide the user of the clock in setting the alarm so as to insure its being cut out on Sunday I employ an alarm-setting dial 61 having fourteen divisions each of which represents 12 hours. Every day is thus represented by two divisions arranged side by side and respectively covering the 12 hours of the morning and for-enoon, and the 12 hours of the afternoon and evening, according to the conventional a. 1n. and p. m. divisions of time. This dial is provided at the back with a sleeve 62 adapting it to be frictionally applied to the forward end of the hub 59 of the Sunday cutout wheel 19. A peek-hole 63 in the dial or of the clock is arranged in position so as to successively show the fourteen divisions of the dial 61 as the same is actuated step-by-step once in twelve hours. Thus, in Fig. 1

H 77 77 on the dial 61, is exposed through the hole 63, indicating the position of the Sunday cutout wheel 49. At midnight on Saturday the dial 61 will shift to show (S-)7 A. Mi; Sunday. The positions due to the parts Saturday p. m. are shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 1, while the positions of the parts Sunday a. m. are shown by Figs. 1 and The dial 6 1 is provided in the usual manner with an alarm-set circle 65 swept by a pointer 66 mounted upon the alarm-set staff 39. 7

Assuming, for convenience of description that an alarm is being sounded; the alarmstop slide 18 will then be at the limit of its outward excursion as shown in Fig. 5. To stop the sounding of the alarm, the user of the clock must press down upon the pushbutton 8, whereby the plunger 2 is forced into engagement with the arm 11 of the resetting-lever 12 which is depressed with the effect of crowding its beveled terminal 1.6 over the edge 17 of the alarm-stop slide 18, whereby the same is forced to move from right to left against the tension of its spring 21 into the position in which it is shown in Fig. 6 in which the extreme inner end of the slide will block the vibration of the hammer-stop wire 30 and arrest the running of the alarm-train. At the same time that the slide 13 is being moved from right to left under the camming action of indicating the first 12 hours of the terminal 16, it is being pulled laterally forward by its spring 21 so that by the time it reaches the limit of its excursion to the left, its shoulder 22 has been engaged with the inner end of the bracket 20 at the point 24, whereby the slide is caught, and held in this position against the tension of its spring 21. Now in due course, as the time-train of the clock turns the alarm-cam wheel 38 and hence the alarm-cam 42, the hub 37 of the wheel 38 will be crowded against the outer face of the alarm-set-off spring 27 the special finger 26 of which willbe crowded inward so as to engage with the inner edge of the slide 18 at about the point 67 thereon, as shown in Fig. 10. The continued inward movement of the let-off spring 27 will gradually push the slide 18 laterally inward until its shoulder 22 is disengaged from the inner end of the bracket 20 at which time the spring 21 will. assert itself to pull the slide 18 from left to right. An undueinward movement of the slide 18 at this time, is prevented by the engagement of the shoulder 30 upon the inner edge of the slide with the inner end of the bracket 20. As the slide moves from left to right, when so released and under the pull of the spring 21, the outer edge of the abutment 25 will engage with the adjacent edge of the finger 26 of the spring 27 before the shoulder 28 of the slide engages with the point 24 of the bracket 20. The slide is now held solely by the engagement of the tooth 25 with the finger 26 until the cam 42 drops off the finger 43 when the spring 27 leaps forward, carrying with it the finger 26 which is thus pulled away from the tooth 25 on the slide which is now shifted from left to right by the spring 21 just enough to bring the tooth 25 into alinement with the finger 26 as shown in Fig. 4. Now, as in due course, the alarm-cam 4:2 again rides up the alarm letoff finger 13 and pushes the alarm let-elf spring inward, the said finger 26 pushing directly against the end of the tooth 25, crowds the slide 18 laterally inward until its shoulder 23 is cleared from the point 24 when the spring 21 will assert itself to draw the slide from left to right to the limit of its outward excursion when it will be stopped by the engagement of its shoulder 36 with the inner end of the bracket 19. The movement of the slide from left to right has now entirely cleared the hammer-stop arm 30 which, however, is prevented from vibrating by the engagement with it of the beveled finger 29 of the alarm let-off spring 27. Now when the cam are at the full completion of its second revolution drops off the finger and releases the spring 27, the finger 29 is withdrawn from its engagement with the arm 30 and the alarm-train allowed to run and the alarm to sound.

It will be seen from the foregoing that by furnishing the alarm-stop slide 18 with the two stop-shoulders 22 and 23, an intermediate movement of the slide 18 is secured, whereby it is prevented from being sufli ciently moved at the conclusion of the first twelve hours after the last preceding sounding of the alarm, to permit it to clear the hammer-stop arm, since otherwise the alarm would be sounded once in twelve hours, instead of once in twenty-four hours. In other words, the provision of the slide 18 with two shoulders 22 and 23, acts to nullify the release of the alarm let-off spring by the alarm-cam once in twelve hours, or in other words, to nullify each alternate operation of the said alarm-cam.

It will be understood from the foregoing that although the ringing of the alarm must be manually stopped by the user of the clock to prevent the alarm spring from running down, the mechanism of the movement au tomatically resets the alarm for going off at the end of the next succeeding 24; hours without any further act on the part of the user of the clock. To set the alarm properly in the first instance, the alarm-set staff 39 must be turned by its button 41 until the dial 61 shows through the peek-hole 63 in the time-dial 64, the day of the week, and the forenoon or afternoon thereof corresponding to the day of the week and the forenoon and the afternoon thereof when the clock is being set.

I claim 1. In an alarm clock in which the sounding of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm mechanism automatically reset, the combination with a manually operable stop, of a longitudinally and laterally movable alarm-stop slide co-acting with a member of the alarm-train for stopping the same and operated by the said stop, and an alarm let-off spring co-acting with the said slide for releasing the same.

2. In an alarm clock, in which the running of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm mechanism automatically reset, the combination with a manually operable stop, of a longitudinally and laterally movable alarm-stop slide operated thereby and provided with two stop-shoulders and with an abutment tooth and adapted to co-act with a member of the alarm-train for stopping the same, and an alarm let-ofl' spring co-acting with the said abutment tooth for moving the slide laterally for the successive operation of its shoulders in the movement of the slide into its alarm let-ofi' position.

3. In an alarm clock in which the running of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm mechanism automatically reset, the combination with a manually operable stop, of a longitudinally and laterally movable alarm-stop slide operated in one direction by the said manually operable stop, a spring for operating the slide in opposite direction and laterally, the said slide being adapted to co-act with a moving member of the alarm-train to stop the running thereof, and an alarm let-off spring provided with a lingel co-acting with the slide to move the same laterally preparatory to its release to the action of its spring.

4. In an alarm clock in which the running of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm mechanisn automatically reset, the combination with a manually operable plunger, of an alarm-resetting lever operated thereby, a longitudinally and laterally movable alarm-stop slide co-acting with a member of the alarm train to stop the same, a spring for the said slide, and an alarm letoff spring co-acting with the said slide for releasing the same once in 24 hours to the action of its spring.

5. In an alarm clock in which the running of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm mechanism automatically reset, the combination with an alarm train, of mechanism for manually stopping the same, for automatically resetting; the same once in 24 hours, and for nullifying the action of the alarm mechanism every twelve hours, of means for automatically nullifying one alarm cycle of twenty-four hours once in seven days.

6. In an alarm clock in which the running mechanism of the clock to complete one revolution in seven days, a Sunday cut-out tooth carried by the said wheel, and a Sunday cutout alarm spring operated by the said outout-tooth and preventing the running of the alarm train when the same is released by the alarm mechanism proper of the clock.

7 In an alarm clock in which the running of the alarm is manually stopped and the alarm mechamsm automatically reset, the

combination with the time and alarm mechanism thereof, of means for automatically nullifying one alarm cycle of twenty-four hours once in seven days including a Sunday cut-out wheel of fourteen teeth and a dial having graduations for each twelve hours of a Week of seven days.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. SMITH.

l Vitnesses:

C. W. SHADER, J. R. PUTNAM.

Je lies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Lommissioner of Patents Washington, I). G. 

